John 2:5

2:5 His mother told the servants, “Whatever he tells you, do it.” ¹ 

John 13:17

13:17 If you understand ²  these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

John 14:21

14:21 The person who has my commandments and obeys ³  them is the one who loves me. ⁴  The one ⁵  who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal ⁶  myself to him.”

John 14:1

Jesus’ Parting Words to His Disciples

14:1 “Do not let your hearts be distressed. ⁷  You believe in God; ⁸  believe also in me.

John 5:3

5:3 A great number of sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed people were lying in these walkways.

[2:5]  ¹ tn The pronoun “it” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.

[13:17]  ² tn Grk “If you know.”

[14:21]  ³ tn Or “keeps.”

[14:21]  ⁴ tn Grk “obeys them, that one is the one who loves me.”

[14:21]  ⁵ tn Grk “And the one.” Here the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated to improve the English style.

[14:21]  ⁶ tn Or “will disclose.”

[14:1]  ⁷ sn The same verb is used to describe Jesus’ own state in John 11:33, 12:27, and 13:21. Jesus is looking ahead to the events of the evening and the next day, his arrest, trials, crucifixion, and death, which will cause his disciples extreme emotional distress.

[14:1]  ⁸ tn Or “Believe in God.” The translation of the two uses of πιστεύετε (pisteuete) is difficult. Both may be either indicative or imperative, and as L. Morris points out (John [NICNT], 637), this results in a bewildering variety of possibilities. To complicate matters further, the first may be understood as a question: “Do you believe in God? Believe also in me.” Morris argues against the KJV translation which renders the first πιστεύετε as indicative and the second as imperative on the grounds that for the writer of the Fourth Gospel, faith in Jesus is inseparable from faith in God. But this is precisely the point that Jesus is addressing in context. He is about to undergo rejection by his own people as their Messiah. The disciples’ faith in him as Messiah and Lord would be cast into extreme doubt by these events, which the author makes clear were not at this time foreseen by the disciples. After the resurrection it is this identification between Jesus and the Father which needs to be reaffirmed (cf. John 20:24-29). Thus it seems best to take the first πιστεύετε as indicative and the second as imperative, producing the translation “You believe in God; believe also in me.”